Iced

Ice stepped out of the greystone office and into the bright sunlight.  He pulled off his sunglasses and tucked them into the left breast pocket of his navy Armani suit.  He turned his face to the sun, and closed his eyes.

"You!"

His head snapped toward the sound.  An elderly man, about 70ish, with white hair and wide, frightened eyes, stood pointing a shaky bony finger at him.

"It's you.  I know it's you."

Ice locked his gaze onto the old man's eyes and let his mouth go slack.  His feelers moved through the skin, past the cranium, and searched through the gray matter to find a weakness.  There.  Right there.  He focused intensely for a second or two.  That's all it took.  The man crumpled to the floor, his fall finally breaking eye contact.

Ice rushed to the man's side, pushing through the surprised bystanders that moved in to help.  He pulled off his jacket, dropping it to the ground as he knelt down.  He turned to a young woman with a cell phone.

"Call 911," he said. 

He placed two fingers on the side of the man's neck.  A faint pulse still fluttered beneath his fingertips.  He tilted the man's head back and checked for breathing.  Barely a wisp.  He clasped his hands together, positioned them under the man's breast bone where the ribs of each side came together.  He began CPR, pushing against the man's chest, knowing he was sending more blood to the damaged brain, building more pressure.  He paused to give mouth to mouth resuscitation, listened again to the slowing breath, returned to massaging the man's chest.  He continued as a crowd grew around them, until he was certain the blood vessels in the old man's brains were exploding under the onslaught, until no breath and no heart beat could be detected.

He heard the sirens.  An ambulance pulled up next to them.  The paramedics pulled him back, took over the CPR where he had left off.  The senior paramedic pronounced the old man dead at the scene.  He patted Ice on the shoulder.

"You did all that you could."

Later that afternoon, back in the dark of the greystone office, the captain paced angrily.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he said through clenched teeth.

"I had to," Ice said.  "He almost blew my cover."

*****

Today's prompt included one of my favorite writing exercises, eavesdropping.  I'm afraid I didn't follow directions very well; I only used one line of dialogue.  It's just that it was such a good line of dialogue, I couldn't pass it up.

Step 1. Go to a busy locale—a cafe or coffee shop would be easiest. Sit down with a notebook, and make sure you look busy, so people don’t know you’re listening. Now write down random sound bites of  conversations.Try to get at least 10 lines or snippets.
Step 2. Now use all ten in a cohesive scene of dialogue or as dialogue in a story
Step 3.  Leave a list of the lines plucked from real life at the end of the story for people to see.

The line I took was "He almost blew my cover."

The rest of the conversation revolved around new NFL rules, how bad the Rams are this year, and golf.

Anyway, to play along, visit Write Anything's [Fiction] Friday here.

Wisps of Sadness

A sweet and tender sob wafted through the open window.  The child outside cried softly.  This wasn't the loud and angry wails of a baby without words expressing his displeasure over hunger, boredom, or a messy diaper.  Nor was it the egotistical toddler's cry of frustration that the world refused to cater to her demands.  This was a haunting, knowing cry, the kind a grown up would cry if he hadn't learned to bury the sadness of life under forced optimism, biting sarcasm, or feigned indifference.

Snippets

(overheard at the hair salon)

I hated having a shower in the front bathroom.
I hate getting in and out of the shower, it's slippery!
Oh, yeah, especially if it's been sitting awhile.  We took out so much dirt, it was gross.
Spring cleaning, huh?  Hahaha.

It's not as bad now, but still.

It's weird, cuz they're all like 20 and I'm 31.
I used to babysit these guys.
When they order drinks, I'm like, I'm not old enough for you to be old enough.

Two three year olds and a four year old.  The four year old is OK, but the three year olds and a baby?  No way.  I'm not going to pay the entrance fee to be miserable.

A family of four is like $200 to get in.
Not only lunch but dinner, too, and a couple of drinks throughout the day.

Like he could use the energy.
Brock was saying he could have done it last night, but I was like not getting back in the aircraft.
For safety, I can't imagine flying at night without them.
But I hate them.

Mallrats

And he's like totally hilarious.
You should marry him.
I should marry him, but he's like really immature right now.
He's going to be really successful.
Yeah, he's got a great bod.
He does like baseball, basketball, and track, and he's like mediocre at all of them.

I don't know about you, but I'm doing something. I'm not staying home.
Sneaking out of my home at night is a very bad idea.

He's like not allowed to go out of the house.
What the ...
I think it's crazy how parents are like, "You're not going out of the house ever!"
His parents are like, "You can't walk in the mall, you're going to get stabbed."

He Said, She Said

Things overheard at the mall:

For you, I will do that.

I'm like, I don't really care.
But this time it was like awkward.
I don't know how else to say it.
Ewww... ewww ... on that note, see you in a bit.

You never talk about it.
I'm a little tied up right now.

We got good stuff.
Boots? You found boots? I want some boots. Because you don't know how much longer boots are in style.

I'll feed my frog, OK?
You know, we only feed them twice a week.

Hey!
What?
Ya wanna go into Nordstrom's?
(no response, just moved in that direction)

Hey, ma'am, can you help me out?

I don't have a curve in my back. Do I have a curve in my back?

I'm gonna get a calendar of cats.
Oh... I hate cats. You like them?